Little Women by Louis May Alcott is a rather 'potong' book if you catch my draft. It's too lovey dovey I feel. Rather unnatural honestly. Meh. I like it and I don't. It's a 2 way thing. I reckon it's probably the era. Middlemarch was pretty lovey dovey, also, but much much less. I love Elliot's metaphorical representations, how she depicts moods and subtle juxtapositions. Quite sublime. I can't quite describe Little Women honestly. I suppose one can't help be drawn to the characters. But Geraldine Brook's March was quite exquisite really. Good stuff. But it's a much easier read Little Women compared to Middlemarch I find. The English was much simpler, descriptions less vivid. I feel it's a book quite reliant on dialogue. Not entirely uncommon.

Right. Now that that's done with. Some might be wondering.
"SHIT!! It's only been a week! But he's blogging! OMG!!"
Yea. I'm bored. I was bored before but I'm still bored so I'm blogging.

So let's get right into it. I went to get my Aussie license last week. So, I woke up early, round 12 ish. And with quite high hopes fuelled by mother dearest, I drove to the Vic Road office near by to get my license translated, or so I thought. So I walk in. Many people. Take number. Wait. number gets called. See lady. Asks, "I want to transfer my Malaysian license into a Victorian one, can I book a test now?". Now because of our-by that I mean Malaysian-very excellent driving-and testing I should add-standards Victoria, or specifically Australia doesn't allow a straight forward and very direct translation of licenses which merely requires you to show up at the bloody place, show them your non-Malaysian license, look pretty, take a picture, wait 10 minutes, and PRESTO your license! But NO!!! We Malaysians have to take a test. 3 tests in fact. So fine. I concede. Gimme the bloody tests. Or so I thought.

Right, I'm staring at the chick and the chick is staring at me. And she says.
"Nah, can't do love."
"Excuse me?"
"You've gotta take your L's, hold it for a year, then sit a test for your P's after a year, hold P1 for a year, then another 3 years under P2 then take another test, THEN get your full license."
"WTF!!!!!?????"
At this point I would like to shed some light. L=learner's permit as everyone should know. To advance from L's to P's is 3 tests. That's fine. 3's a bit much but hey that beats sitting in a stinking lecture room for, ah, 12(?) hours listening to some arsehole talk. It includes the hands on driving by the way. But here's the fucking beauty. You hold your P license for 4 years. 4 YEARS!! HOLY SHIT ANYONE?? But NO. That's not good enough. I've got to wait for 1 YEAR BEFORE I can dream of taking those tests. Which means I'm going to be an ILLEGAL driver in the state of Victoria until AT LEAST the 9th of February 2010. Sweet right! Now I wouldn't give a shit if I were studying in La Trobe or RMIT which is 10-15 minutes away from the crib. But I just so happen study in Melbourne University which ISN'T 10-15 minutes away. On top of that there are NO train stations near my house and the tram takes 1 and a half hours AT LEAST to get to uni.

That's just for starters. Once you've done your P's you've got to sit ANOTHER test to get your full license. *SIGH*(I'm trying not to curse too much nowadays) To be honest it isn't quite fair. I know why their doing it. Bloody Aussie kids can't stop killing themselves. Binge drinking is a big deal here. And naturally, DUI's are too. But I say can't you give allowance to people who already have a valid license? I mean sure, don't translate our licenses on the spot like the bloody Singaporeans. But the most they should do is subject us to the 3 tests and be done with it. I mean, I'm not a learner. I've already had my full license in Malaysia. It's quite retarded frankly. Just because the Aussie's are hoons, doesn't mean all foreigners are.

I'm not going to stop driving. Unless I move to the city which is never I can't stop driving. I could take a tram but it's 30 minutes to the tram stop. It takes me 45 minutes tops to get to uni by car. In my opinion this all stems from one original root. I won't dwell on it because it just makes me bitter. Suffice to say, I never really wanted a car. So, winging it this year then. Pray I don't get caught eh.

So I'm back in Melbourne. Good old Melbourne. Stinking hot Melbourne. 40 something degrees Melbourne. God I love this place.

I get asked a lot, "Why you go back so early?".

For instance:

A: Eh, when you leaving for Melbourne la?
Me: Ah, 29th January.
A: Oh, OK. Ah, when does uni start?
Me: 2nd of March.
A: Hah?! So late? Then why you go back so early?

OR

We are somewhere out.

Me: Hey man. I'm gonna call it a day man.
B: You going back already?
Me: Ah, yeah?
B: Why so early?

The conversation usually goes like this. My response is usually monotonic. Who'd blame me really, after getting asked so many times, who wouldn't have a semi-automatic like response. It's like when someone says "Hi" to you. You say "Hi" back. If your feeling particularly good you say "Hi!" with a vengeance. Just so we're quite clear, I never answer the question. People might think it a legitimate question, I find it rather rhetorical. I used to try justifying my statement but somewhere along the line it just became redundant. Like the thing hanging off the large intestines. Appendix. That's it. Frankly it's like asking why the grass is green. Sure you could go through the whole trouble of telling the other person what cells are and that-form 4 Biology, fail me not-chromoplasts(?) contain pigments which give it it's green colour which also help in photosynthesis. But at the end of the day no one really wants or needs to hear that. So in the end you just say, "Of course the grass is green what other colour could it be?". Now ignoring the fact that autumn comes that is an answer that would suffice.

Now I suppose you are reading a rather biased view to the arguement. Some curiosities are incurable. Like a cat who's waiting to be skinned you just can't help it. Dare I even say that to some it is a rather automatic response to my statement.
"Dude, I'm going back man."
"Why?"
I suppose on certain occasions my untimely statement does warrant a question. Some even an accusation not really wanting a response anyway. But really, what else is there to say. I mean there are reasons of course, but in the end do you really really want to hear about them? I'm not on the brink of some wildly informative breakthrough. So I like to leave it at that. Keep them guessing you know.
Why's he going back?
Hmm, maybe he's got to wake up early tomorrow.
Or maybe he's got an engagement to attend to.
Maybe he's turning into a zombie, the blood curling, body eating, semi-blind one but he isn't yet but he's feeling it and still has the presense of mind to excuse himself before he starts devouring his friends and cause a ruckus.
Or, on the outside chance, he's just tired and needs some rest.

They almost sound plausible eh.